Love is a Hard Hurdle to Pass
by SawadaTsunayoshiLover
Summary: Reborn knew something followed him. A ghost maybe. But if he said anything people would look at him like he was crazy. He could tarnish his image. But he knew it was friendly and that it was the one thing that made him the best hitman. R27, kind of light but it's still there.


_"Tsuna? It's three in the morning. What do you want?" Reborn said grumpily as he rubbed at his eyes to get the sleep out of them. He also told Tsuna not to call him anymore._

_"I was shot a few days ago. I was a little upset after you left and I wasn't that great while I was fighting. I wasn't eating right so the gunshot is a strain on my body. Nobody knows so I needed to tell you since I know I'm going." Tsuna said a little sadly but Reborn could almost hear the smile that Tsuna had on._

_"What do you mean you were hurt? And that you're going?" Reborn said as he was suddenly side awake._

_"It's nothing. I just wanted to call and say that it's fine that you left. I know why you did it. So just do this one thing for me."_

_"Of course, what is it?"_

_"Be extraordinary in life." Then the line went dead and Reborn was left with a bitter taste in his mouth._

* * *

Reborn was the greatest hitman in the world. He didn't exactly earn his title though. He always had help in the littlest of things that could have easily gotten him killed. He knew that but he still didn't say anything.

Most people would think he was crazy. But he wasn't crazy because what his instincts were telling him were true. He was haunted with a spirit. And he was sure there was something more to it then he could see.

* * *

After Reborn decided to quite being freelance he marched right up to Vongola's gates and announced it to the tenth boss, Enrico, stating that he was going to work under him on one condition: He was never forced into something he didn't want to do.

Enrico agreed and the two shook hands. Reborn was now the number one hitman under the Vongola family protection. That had only three years ago and now he was whispered in the living rooms of houses and told as stories to make the children be good in Italy.

But that was what Reborn hated. He didn't like being looked at with fear, to have eyes of the police on him the entire time he walks down the street and looked at with suspicion of shooting everyone in sight of him. He hated that because if he wanted to he could actually be nice and was fun to be around.

But he couldn't do that from the wake of bodies he left behind him.

Only one thing helped him not give up. He knew that somebody was always following him, always there, just waiting to be looked at. He couldn't see it but he knew that all the little things that made him the best, every bullet that he knew should have hit him, every knife or punch that could have ended with him being taken, was because of the thing following him around.

He silently thanked it but never said anything out loud. He knew people would look at him in a weird way or just think of it when they recognized him.

He also had proof as for a few times he caught glimpses of something running past him that looked like brown spiky hair. He looked but there was nobody around him. But he would always see something out of the corner of his eye in the middle of the night when he suddenly jerked awake.

But only once did he get a good look at the thing following him. It was when he stumbled through the back allies of London after he got shot.

His vision blurred when he was about to pass out but he remembers seeing somebody with dated clothing, Victorian era, that looked with wide brown eyes and spikes that shot up from his head that, in the right lighting, could look like orange.

The 14 year old was somewhat transparent when light travelled down to his legs but he had people following him that looked like they were willing to help. Just before he fell forward the boy vanished from sight leaving a small smile on his lips that made him look adorable.

Reborn was reminiscing about his life when he came up to Vongola's entrance gate. He blew out a breath to calm himself down before he walked in as he needed to keep up appearances.

He pushed the doors open and walked down the hall. He heard the whispers behind him and he chose to not glare back at the people talking about him.

He walked into the office with only so much as two brief knocks. Enrico smiled up at him from his desk and beckoned him over with a wave of his hands. Reborn closed the doors behind him and sat down in one of the chairs opposite the desk.

"It's good to see that you're well Reborn." Enrico said as he got up to shake Reborn's hand. Reborn returned the gesture and sat down when Enrico did.

"Well, it's not like very many people are a challenge to me." Reborn muttered as he took his fedora off and spun it between in two pointer fingers.

Enrico chuckled but soon turned serious as he leaned forward and plucked a folder off the top of the stack. He tossed it to Reborn who caught it and opened it to look it over.

"That's a mission nobody can complete. I lost almost 10 men over this mission but it still needs to be done." Enrico said as he leaned back in his chair.

"What is it exactly?" Reborn asked as he flipped through a bunch of reports that were stained with dried blood. He rubbed his hands to get ride of the flakes with a curl of his lip in disgust.

"Well, we need to do an infiltration and assassination before this person gets too powerful. His name is Byakuran and he's been going on a bit of a rampage over the mafia underground. We have tried to stop him multiple times but it never worked for some reason. We need you to go in and assassinate Byakuran before he kills anybody else."

"Alright, where am I going for this mission?"

"You're going to Japan."

* * *

Reborn sighed as he stepped off of the plane. He didn't like coming to Japan that much from how different the air was. It wasn't like the Italian country side he was used to as the air in Japan was heavy and hard to breath in from the contrast.

But he had a mission to do and it was unfortunately in Japan.

Reborn checked his watch and saw that he was almost late to meet his informant on Millfiore. He needed him to tell him all the nooks and crannies that are free for him to sneak around in, the guard shift, everything.

He hailed a taxi and told the driver where to go. He was pleased with himself as he could barely hear his Italian accent when he spoke Japanese.

Reborn made it to the hotel and paid the driver. He stepped out and walked to the desk to book a room. He stashed his stuff in there before he locked his door and walked to a nearby cafe he was told to meet at. He sat at a table and ordered an espresso and waited.

A few minutes after his coffee was set down and the waitress was finally waiting on another table, his informant finally came. Reborn spotted him with a pleased twitch of his lips after having waited so long. He waved him over and smirked up at him when he was in front of the table.

"Good to know you didn't get lost for once, Yamamoto." Reborn said as Yamamoto sat opposite him.

"Ha-ha, very funny. But I was late because my friend is in town and I just got away in saying I had to go do something. So I don't have that much time before I have to get back." Yamamoto explained as he sat down and ordered a black coffee.

"Then tell me what you have and leave." Reborn said before he took a sip of his espresso.

Yamamoto smiled an easy-going smile before he leaned forward and started speaking. "After...Tsuna died and we were forced to switch over to Millfiore, Enrico told me how to navigate through the base. There are thousands of cubes in the base that can interlock. They can move at anytime and won't move again until they need to be.

"If you infiltrate the Mellone base you're signing your death wish. But if you want to get to the office it's in the very centre. If you can fit through the ducts then you can crawl into his office and get him. But there are pressure sensors when he isn't there and you won't be able to get away before people come in and take you for questioning." Yamamoto stopped speaking and leaned back with an easy-going smile plastered on his face up at the waitress.

When the waitress left Reborn spoke again. "What happens if I'm captured? Will they torture me or just kill me straight away?"

"They'll make an example out of you and make everyone who tries falter in their revolt against Byakuran. Since you're the World's Best Hitman it'll be even better." Yamamoto shrugged but looked unhappy about saying it. "So rethink what you're doing before you go there."

Reborn hummed as he thought. He weighed his options and thought over how much could go wrong. He could always back out but he would have the odd people crazy enough to challenge him in the pretense of how he was going soft. He couldn't have that.

But he also didn't feel like dying at the moment. He was only thirty and he had yet to do anything he deemed worth living for. But he also felt like he couldn't do that much without being looked at weird.

"I think I'll still do it. It's not like if I die people will care. Some might actually cheer. So thanks for the warning but it's unneeded." Reborn got up and threw some bills on the table as he walked out.

Yamamoto sighed and covered his mouth with his hand. He couldn't believe somebody like that was the one Tsuna had liked.

* * *

Reborn stretched before he slumped back down onto the bed. He hated when he was sick. But the damn air messed up his throat and now he felt like a hot iron was being pushed down his throat whenever he breathed.

He had heard about people who went to Japan for the first time and weren't used to the air got sick. Since he barely ever comes to Japan and prefers to stay in Italy, he wasn't used to the pollution.

"I hate you right now." Reborn muttered to no one in particular.

He had been here fro a few days and had been working tirelessly trying to find out the best way to assassinate Byakuran. He had finally figured out the perfect plan the night before and it only took two days. It was record time for him.

But he was sick now and it might hinder his performance. But he got up regardless of his condition though as he had a job to do that needed to be done in the next few days or Byakuran will be long gone, having moved on. But he still had to stand longer then he should have in the shower since it felt so nice.

When Reborn got to the base, he was able to get in too easily. Some of the halls were bustling while some were quiet and deserted.

He walked into one deserted hallway and smirked when he saw the air duct entrance above him. He looked around like he was curious to be here and where everything was. He spotted the video camera and quickly looked away as he if he overlooked it.

He shot it as if he didn't do anything and climbed into the vent. He made sure nobody saw him before he closed the vent and crawled through to where he knew Byakuran's office was.

He stopped short when he heard somebody talking outside of the vent. Sound carried and he had to be careful that he didn't alert anybody that he was crawling through the vent. He was right beside Byakuran's office and the mesh cover that provided him with a visual was just ahead.

He heard the voices speaking in Japanese and he inched forward carefully before he stopped. He heard them clearly now and eaves dropped on the conversation between Byakuran and a brown spiky haired boy.

"Byakuran, somebody's here to assassinate you. You have to let him but make it look real. You don't have to actually die but make it look like that." The boy said.

Byakuran smiled as he leaned forward and chuckled. "Tsunayoshi-kun, you know I can't do that. Reborn is the reason you're dead and I can't let this chance slip away."

"I-I know that I'm dead, but it wasn't his fault. He was conflicted. But please, _please_, don't kill him. It's not his time yet." Tsuna pleaded as he looked desperately at Byakuran.

Byakuran seem to ponder that but smiled creepily down at Tsuna. "And what if I say no? You're dead and you can't possibly do anything to stop what I'm doing."

"Yet I kept him alive when he was in fire fights thanks to the idiot boss that took over in my place. I was always around him, save for obvious times, and helped him with the little things in life. I could easily do the opposite to you."

"You really do love Reborn don't you, Tsunayoshi-kun?"

"Yes...Even if he forgot about me I don't think I'll be able to stop loving him." Tsuna shrugged. "It's not that big of deal because it's his life and he can live it as he chooses."

Byakuran sighed as he leaned back in the chair he was in. The desk in front of him was piled with paper on almost every possible spot that could be fit on there in neat piles. Byakuran didn't do anything on Sundays though so Tsuna came that day to try and talk Byakuran out of killing Reborn.

"Why do you try so hard? He abandoned you because of selfish reasons. You were killed because he left you and you weren't able to defend yourself. How can you love a person like that?"

"Love is a strange thing isn't it Byakuran? You don't know what will happen but true love sticks with you no matter what you do to try and get rid of it. It'll always come back at the worst of times and you can't help but cry."

"I suppose. But that hasn't happened to me. Everyone annoys me."

Tsuna sighed in exasperation before he stood up and said. "I was being deep. Give me one thing."

* * *

Reborn wasn't sure what he just heard. He was sure that he didn't know anybody named Tsunayoshi, if he did he was sure they wouldn't have dated. But the little ache in his chest as he heard Tsuna speak and the flutter of his heart begged to differ.

He gave an annoyed cluck of his tongue before he moved the gun he was holding over the metal mesh. He aimed the gun right in the centre of Byakuran's head and was about to pull the trigger when he looked up and smiled. "Reborn, how nice of you to join me. I was just wondering what you were up to."

Reborn 'tched' before he pulled the gun out of the wiring and into the holster on his hip. He pulled the opening up and jumped down, landing with practised grace, into the middle of the room. "How disappointing. I wanted to be the one to send you to a nice eternity in Hell."

"Aw, that's no fun. Why don't you sit and talk a while?" Byakuran shot back as he crossed his legs and leaned forward onto his desk. "You look like you're about to collapse in front of me."

"I, unlike you, want to complete my job." Reborn said in an annoyed manor as he crossed his arms. Byakuran just smiled, he had hit a nerve.

"Well, you're a downer. I wanted to find out the dirt of Tsunayoshi's relationship with the greatest hitman in the world. Mind filling me in? He hated talking about his private life and was no fun to be around if I couldn't gossip."

Reborn rolled his eyes as he shifted his weight to his other foot. "Like I know what you're talking about. I've never been in a relationship with a man and haven't found one that peeked my interest enough for there to be a relation between us."

"Sure, sure." Byakuran said as he stood up from his desk and walked around it.

Reborn glared as he stood stock still and waited for Byakuran to come closer to him before he did anything. When Byakuran came close enough he felt his breath hitch and a coughing fit forming in his throat.

"Well, looks like you're sick." Byakuran said as he leaned down to meet Reborn's eyes. Reborn glared back covered his mouth with a hand to try and stifle his coughing.

Byakuran chuckled again before he struck out at Reborn, making him cough even worse and go down to his knees. Reborn stopped coughing after a few minutes and spit to the side before using his knees as support to stand back up.

He wheezed a little as he breathed, trying to get his breath back, while Byakuran grinned in absolute glee. He had finally gotten what he wanted.

"I guess you must be tired." Byakuran stepped closer so he was almost nose to nose with Reborn.

Reborn instinctively grabbed at his gun on his hip for it to not be there. Byakuran stepped back to his desk and leaned against it as he twirled the gun around his index finger. The trigger so close to being pulled it made Reborn take a half step back.

"Be careful with that. It's loaded you know." Reborn said as if he was talking to a child.

Byakuran giggled and let the gun drop into his left hand. He aimed it at Reborn's midriff and smiled happily. "I always wanted to do this, you just made it too easy for me. Try to remember Tsuna and actually have a good life."

Reborn was about to argue back and jump at Byakuran to get his gun back when the gun went off. He stopped as his arm was poised in the air and his face was a mixture of shock and pain. He looked down at his abdomen and saw the middle of his chest starting to bleed.

He felt his legs give out from underneath him as he fell forward. Byakuran caught him and laid him on his back, his little pool of blood dripping and soaking through his shirt.

He heard Byakuran speak to something out of his view. A shuffle of rushed feet and the boy called Tsunayoshi came into view as he coughed, making his body arch at the force.

"No no no! I thought you said you wouldn't, you idiot!" Tsuna yelled at Byakuran who smiled playfully.

"Now you two can be together. I know you miss him and it'll be good when you can finally be reincarnated. I know where you're going from the Mare ring and it'll be better then this life when you do." Byakuran said in a mixture of seriousness and glee.

Reborn listened to the conversation and in his pain filled mind, he finally realized who was in front of him. He reached up and gently pulled on a strand of Tsuna's bangs. Tsuna looked down in surprise as he used to do that when they were alone and before he ran his hands through Tsuna's hair.

"Good to see you finally remember me, Reborn." Tsuna muttered as he smiled happily.

He covered the hand still in his hair with his own and kissed the palm like he used to. Reborn was almost dead from blood loss and so the two could touch each other again.

"Good to see you haven't changed, No Good-Tsuna." Reborn managed before he gasped softly in pain.

He let his eyes slip closed as he released the last breath he would be able to use. Tsuna felt tears slip down his face as he was sure they wouldn't meet again before they were reborn into an alternate universe. But he leaned down and pressed his lips to the corpse in front of him before standing up and sending a seething glare at Byakuran.

"Next time keep what you promise." Tsuna said in contempt as he shook the blood off of him.

"Hey, I know what will happen next to you two. Thank me later for it and try to get your love life back." Byakuran said before Tsuna felt himself letting go of his life in this universe.

He sent a little wave and a smile before he was gone.

* * *

13 years later he fell down the stairs as per usual to look at a baby with a yellow pacifier around its neck, a tailored suit and fedora on him.

That was the day that started everything all over again.

* * *

**I'll probably make a second one for this and follow what happens during the cannon Reborn! with the twist of R27. In here it was only mild but I wanted to put it like that because of how much Reborn grieved when Tsuna was killed. So much that he made himself forget about his love and closed his heart off.**

**It's a little long but I love what I did and am so proud of myself that I got this from a picture. I might go back to change some things later on because that's just how I roll but for now this is what you get for now.**

**Drop a review, please, on your way out and hopefully you liked it.**

**-Gate**


End file.
